IHS Navajo Area Translates 2025–2030 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Diné-Speaking Communities

Healthy eating starts with understanding nutrition in your own language.

The Indian Health Service Navajo Area has translated the newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 into the Diné language — a milestone led by Martha Austin-Garrison of Diné College and retired NNMC nurse Ida Bradley from the Shiprock Service Unit. Navajo Area Director DuWayne R. Begay, Ph.D., called the effort a demonstration of collaboration that honors Diné language while promoting healthier lifestyles across Indian Country. For Our Relatives and elders who speak Diné as a first language, this translation removes a critical barrier between federal nutrition guidance and daily food choices.

But translation alone doesn’t put food on the table. American Indian households face food insecurity at nearly four times the national rate, and across the Navajo Nation’s 27,000+ square miles, geographic isolation, limited grocery access, and high costs make fresh protein and vegetables hard to come by. Researchers from the University of Washington, UC Davis, and Northern Navajo Medical Center are developing a culturally informed food insecurity screening tool that reflects traditional Diné food systems — led by Tia Benally, MPH, who emphasizes building on the family and community connections already present in the Nation.

The 2025–2030 guidelines reinforce what tribal policy already prioritizes: high-quality protein at every meal and three daily servings of colorful vegetables. The Healthy Diné Nation Act taxes unhealthy foods at 2% while waiving a 6% sales tax on fresh produce, water, and nuts across all 110 chapters — a sovereign model for nutrition-driven health policy.

Ellsworth supports the culturally competent Native health professionals who deliver this nutrition education in IHS facilities and tribal programs every day — and we’re watching closely as tribal groceries and markets work to keep these foods accessible, shelf-stable, and appealing to Our communities.